Kristen ~ Age 37... Sacrificing Fertility Led to Adoption

   As a girl, Kristen listened intently in Sunday school and church services. After church one Sunday at the age of five, she came home knowing she was a sinner and that Jesus died so her sins would be forgiven. Kristen went off by herself to the playroom and accepted Christ. Kristen loved God with her whole heart, and she remained close to Him as she grew older.

   Kristen married Steve in 2001. They planned to start a family the following year, but she didn’t become pregnant in 2002, 2003, or 2004. During those years, they went to several ob-gyn doctors, and Kristen took various medications that gave her horrible mood swings. She felt like a failure because all she had ever wanted her whole life was to be a mom. Not being able to have children made her feel like less of a woman. She wondered, Why am I not able to get pregnant? Kristen remembers playing with dolls in a pink bedroom at her grandma’s house when she was eight and thinking, What if I can’t have babies someday? God planted a tiny seed way back then to help prepare her for her struggle with infertility.

   Trying so hard to conceive for all those years left her emotionally drained, not to mention isolated. Going to church on Mother’s Day and watching little children buying roses for their moms was a heart-wrenching sight. Her friends didn’t know what to say to comfort her, and they especially felt guilty when they told her they had gotten pr ...